Ivan Kazanets was born on 12 October 1918 in Lotsmanska village in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, central Ukraine into a peasant family.[1] In 1937, he graduated from Dnipropetrovsk Industrial Technical School, and then he worked as an electrician, engineer, and then head of a substation section at the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Combine.[2] In 1944, he also graduated from the Siberian Metallurgic Institute, which was located within Novokuznetsk of the Russian SFSR.[2] He was then a worker at the Yenakiieve Metallurgical Plant until 1952, where he became party organizer of the CPSU at the plant in 1950.[2]
In 1952, he started taking on party leadership roles, becoming First Secretary of the Yenakiieve City Committee, and then from 1952 to 1953 he was First Secretary of the Makiivka City Committee.[2] From 1953 to 1960 he was First Secretary of the Donetsk Oblast Committee, and then Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine.[2]
He served as the chairman of the council of ministers of the Ukrainian SSR (equivalent of today's Prime Minister of Ukraine) from 1963 to 1965.[1] He was the minister of ferrous metallurgy of the Soviet Union for almost 20 years.[1] His tenure ended in July 1985 when Serafim Kolpakov replaced him in the post.[3] Simultaneously, he was a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from its 4th to 10th convocations.[4]
After 1985, he retired as a personal pensioner.[4] He served as a member of the Community of Donbass residents of Moscow, worked as a consultant to the company Chermet, and was an advisor to the Chairman of the Committee of the Russian Federation for Metallurgy.[5][6]
